What's stopping the operators from throwing in a few basis points onto each tx? Am I missing something?

030a29f333

That was the idea from inception, but it would probably be rare because of trust

I think the point is simply to increase optionality for everyone. 

Bitcoinisawesome

Isn't a point of Fedimints to be able to have your own ecosystem with your own rules?

I believe a fedimint can charge fees (just rewatched Obi's most recent WBD interview) so you may actually be right!